A News Blog

Keeping you in the know in the world of politics

TUSCALOOSA | Are you “pro-life” or “pro-choice” when it comes to abortion and do you have to stop sometimes and think twice to remember which means which? That’s something I did not not do in last week’s At Large column, calling Tuscaloosa Republican gubernatorial candidate Rep. Robert Bentley “pro-choice” when I clearly meant “pro-life,” something that should have been clear, in my own head at least, in a sentence that described “the 67-year-old Bentley, (as) a Tuscaloosa physician who attends Tuscaloosa’s… Read More »

TUSCALOOSA | Color me pleasantly surprised, shocked even, that President Barack Obama’s decision to accept Gen. Stanley McChrystal resignation (read: he was fired) is being met with general approval almost across the board. Oh, I’m sure after a day in which he seemed unsure what to make of the whole thing, especially when Gen. David Petraeus was appointed to succeed McChrystal as the leader of the war in Afghanistan, Rush Limbaugh will be back in full force condemning Obama for… Read More »

TUSCALOOSA | I don’t think one can over-emphasize the history being made in this year’s governor’s race. Specifically, the out-of-nowhere candidacy of Tuscaloosa state Rep. Robert Bentley, who has now survived a recount and contest by Tim James to claim a spot by the skin of his teeth in the July 13 Republican primary runoff to determine the party’s nominee for the Nov. 2 general election. Bentley, a 67-year-old Tuscaloosa physician, edged James, the son of a former two-term governor, by less… Read More »

TUSCALOOSA | I don’t know where the notion that Tuscaloosa Rep. was ahead of Tim James by 167 votes coming out of the first round of voting in the Republican primary for governor came from, but it has become embedded in the narrative of the saga of the fight over second place and the right to move on to the July 13 runoff against front-runner Bradley Byrne. Because actually, Bentley led by 166, according to the official, certified numbers from the… Read More »

TUSCALOOSA | As the process of recounting some 492,000 votes cast in the June 1 Republican gubernatorial primary began today and seemed to proceed with relatively few suprises and indications that Tuscaloosa state Rep. Robert Bentley is holding on to his razor-slim lead over Greeneville businessman Tim James, the war of words continues between James and Attorney General Troy King. It was King’s attorney general’s opinion last Friday that that gave cover for the Republican Party to certify primary leader Bradley Byrne, the former chancellor of the… Read More »

TUSCALOOSA | Even though Tuscaloosa state Rep. Robert Bentley defeated Greenville businessman Tim James by a minuscule 167 votes for the second runoff spot in the July 13 Republican party runoff for governor and James is proceeding with a recount that could reverse that result, the Bentley campaign is looking ahead and taking aim at front-runner Bradley Byrne. I got an email this afternoon from the Bentley camp saying they have already conducted a poll matching him with Byrne, who led both… Read More »

TUSCALOOSA | Ever since U.S. Rep. Artur Davis lost his historic bid to become Alabama’s first African-American governor, there have been many chin-pulling, thumb-sucking, head-wagging analyses from experts across the nation trying to explain how he couldn’t even survive a Democratic primary in which many, if not most of the voters were black. About the dumbest I saw came in the immediate aftermath of Tuesday’s voting in The Politico, an on-line journal with some very good writers and political analysts, none of… Read More »

BEE BRANCH | The growing blob of oil, like some monster in a horror movie, is just biding its time right now, growing stronger by the day as our puny efforts at “containment,” whatever that means in this catastrophic instance, prove futile. It is sitting out there now, waiting for the first inevitable storm to provide it with the means to reach the cherished shores and wetlands of our beloved Gulf of Mexico. The latest I saw was that… Read More »

TUSCALOOSA | I almost put an explanation point, instead of a question mark, on the headline to this post because unless something extraordinary happens, Alabama is about to send its first African-American woman to the United States House of Representatives. That startling development, almost lost in the tumult of Tuesday’s primaries, is because in the race to replace incumbent Rep. Artur Davis, whose bid to become become Alabama’s first black governor crashed and burned in the Tuesday’s gubernatorial primary, two African-American women… Read More »

TUSCALOOSA | I don’t think I have ever been as surprised by an election result than I was Tuesday night when our own state Rep. Robert Bentley finished second, albeit a tenuous second, in the Republican gubernatorial primary and could be headed for a runoff against leader Bradley Bryne. In fact, I knowI have never been more shocked by a result than when I got back in the office election night, churned out the two stories I had to write and… Read More »